People

Zofia Baumann (Principal Investigator)

Zofia Baumann joined the Department of Marine Sciences in September 2014. She is an interdisciplinary marine scientist who uses chemicals that accumulate in marine organisms to study their ecology. She also investigates mechanisms via which harmful chemicals enter marine food webs. She is focusing on chemical contaminants that are of significance to both human as well as wildlife health. Her research relies on a combination of field-based measurements, experimentation and modeling.


Wesley Huffman (PhD student)

Wes Huffman

Wesley Huffmany started his PhD at University of Connecticut Avery point in August of 2017 after receiving his B.S. degree in Marine Sciences from the UConn in May of 2017. His PhD research at UConn includes both field and experimental work on mercury biogeochemistry, focusing mainly on mercury bioaccumulation in zooplankton, primarily copepods. His current projects include investigating mercury cycling and bioaccumulation within the Hackensack River, Long Island Sound, and Bering Sea.


[methylmercury, bioaccumulation, zooplankton, copepods, Long Island Sound, Hackensack River, Southeastern Bering Sea]
wesley.huffman@uconn.edu


Gunnar Hansen (PhD student)

ZB and Gunnar on R/V Connecticut

Gunnar Hansen started in summer of 2016 as a PhD student. He is co-advised by Zofia Baumann and Rob Mason.


[shellfish, benthic invertebrates, fish, mercury, methylmercury, bioaccumulation]
gunnar.hansen@uconn.edu


Former Lab Members

Postdocs

Brian Dimento
Brian DiMento (Postdoctoral Researcher from July to December 2018)
Brian Dimento obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 2019. His research was focused on photochemical reactions in the surface ocean and their impacts on the stability of monomethylmercury. While continuing his research endeavors Brian has been teaching undergraduate course at the Connecticut College (2018-2019), and Colby College (since 2021).


[photochemistry, mercury, methylmercury, chemical oceanography]
bdimento@colby.edu

Former undergraduate and high school students

Shahiq Lawjar
Shahiq Lawjar (spring and summer of 2019). Currently working as a Research Assistant in the Behavioral Laboratory at the School of Nursing
JamesHarrington
James Harrington (summer 2016)
Gregory Felver
Gregory Felver (fall 2017 – fall 2018)
Ela
Ellanah Swarnes (Spring 2019)
Fatima Abu Bakr
Fatima Abu Bakr (Spring of 2019)